The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1887-07-22
POPULAR SCIENCE.

A woman dying from myxedema is re-
ported to have had a temperature rang
ing from sixty-six TO seyenty-six degrees
Fahrenheit, the normal being 9s-5. This
is probably the lowest recorded human
temperature.
Out of some 1O, 900 species of birds rec
ognized by ornithologists, there are $50
species and sub-species which make their
home in North America. There are also
eighty-two Others which find their way
to this continent as stragglers from other
countries.
Electric whistles, very melodious in
sound, and said to be less expensive in
manufacture than electric bells, are being
fayorably received in France The whistle
is made by fitting a small brass tube with
suitable apertures so that it opens against
the spring of suitably formed commu-
| tor, or circuit "make-and break"
Professor Neumayer, of Hamburg,
urges the necessity of antarctic explora-
tiOns, laying special stress on It's importance
for geology and paleontology. He antici-
pates that it will show that the South
Pole was centre of dispersion of animals
and plants of the southern hemisphere,
as the North Pole is believed TO have
been for the northern.
The Casiquiare, a connecting river be-
tween the 0rinoco and Rio Negro Rivers,
runs six months in one direction, and then
turns and runs six months in the opposite
direction. The country is so level that a
rise or fall of the 0rinoco governs the
course Of that river, which flows a por-
ton of the year into the Amazon, and at
another times in an opposite direction.
Some one has thus figured on the in
gradients of ton of coal. Besides gas,
q ton of gas coal will yield l, 800 pounds
,-fszzSe- 20 gallons of ammonia water,
and 40 pounds of coal tar. Destruc-
tive distillation of the coal tar gives 500
pounds of pitch, II pounds of creosote,
IL pounds of heavy oils, 9.5 pounds Of
naphtha yellow, 6.3 pounds OF naphtha-
line, AS pounds of naphthol, 2.25
pounds of alizarine, "a pounds of solv-
ent naphtha, Is pounds of phenol, IL
pounds of aurine, IL pounds of ana
line, on pound of toludine, 0.46 pound
of anthracine and 90 pound of toluene.
Experiments made at Ottawa, Canada,
! during the winter showed that Martini
bullets fired into bank of well-packed
snow were completely spent after traver-
sing a distance of not more than four
feet Snidcr bullets in hard-packed snow,
mixed with ice, but hard enough to pre-
vent digging into it with a sheet-iron
shovel did not penetrate more than four
feet. In perfectly dry snow, packed by
natural drift, but capable of being
easily crushed in the hand, bullet pene-
trated about four feet, and in loose
drifted dry snow less than seven feet,
though fired from points only twenty OF
thirty yards distant.
While it may seem singular that the
division line between animals and plants
cannot be clearly traced-some forms
appearing to belong to either or both
kingdoms-it is still more remarkable
that mineral substances should seem to
be living creatures. One of the most IN
teresting finds in the ocean depths is
Huxley's Bathybius, made of shapeless,
motionless slime. It has been supposed
to he the common origin of the animal
and vegetable kingdom, but its organic
character has lately been questioned and
many naturalists now consider it only
gelatinous gypsum. In Cocoon Camden
sis we have another another animal of
few years ago which is now regarded as
mineral substance.